


The Horrors of Really Bad Villians

by Dark Aprotny (Aprotny)



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Big Hero 6: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hiro Hamada Needs a Hug, Human Experimentation, Kidnapping, Mind Reading, New Abilities/Powers, Technopathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 13,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aprotny/pseuds/Dark%20Aprotny
Summary: When a mass abduction of teenagers hits the Big Hero 6 where it hurts, it becomes a struggle to make it out the other end. The team is working endlessly hard to stop the criminals from the outside, while Hiro struggles just to make it to the next day on the inside. Warnings for human experimentation, death, and torture.(Does not take into account most of the series. I took a couple characters from there, but haven't seen all the episodes, so super AU and possibly OOC)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 104





	1. The Beginning

It was a normal day in San Fransokyo.

Hiro’s classes had let out early and he didn’t have a project to work on at the moment, so he was walking home alone.

He was passing an alleyway when two hands grabbed him, one yanking him into the alleyway by his jacket, and the other covering his mouth.

Eyes wide, he started struggling, cursing himself for having left Baymax at home to help Aunt Cass today of all days.

Before he could weasel out of his captor’s grip, however, something pinched him in the neck. He brought a hand up to touch it, but both hands were pulled behind his back before he could do so. The hand covering his mouth let go, but Hiro suddenly had no energy to call for help.

His last intelligible thought was that he must’ve been hit by some kind of stun dart.

* * *

Professor Granville hurried over to Wasabi and Gogo, who were working on their projects in the lab.

“Where’s Mr. Hamada?” She demanded.

“Hiro? His classes got out early today. He said he was going home.” Wasabi replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Was he alone?” Professor Granville asked.

Gogo was the first to recognize the tinge of panic in her voice. “What is it? Has something happened?”

Professor Granville grabbed a nearby remote and turned on the television to the news. The news anchor was going on about disappearing kids and teens, averaging ages 12 to 16 with a rare 17-year-old or 11-year-old thrown in the mix. “Call him.”

Gogo scrambled for her phone and dialed Hiro’s number. After a moment, she hung up and dialed another number. This time, she got an answer. “Hi, Aunt Cass. Is Hiro home?” “No? He left half an hour ago.” “I’m sure he’s fine. Let us know when he gets home.” She hung up and turned to Professor Granville and Wasabi. “Call the others. We’re going to look for him. Now. Thank you for letting us know, Professor Granville.” They quickly put away their stuff and raced out of the lab.

Professor Granville stared after them. “Let’s hope it’s not too late.”

* * *

Two hours later, Honey Lemon was the one to find the evidence that the worst had happened.

“It’s Hiro’s bag.” She murmured before calling her friends. “I found Hiro’s bag.”

“His bag?” Gogo asked. “What about  _ him _ ?”

“Have you heard anything from Aunt Cass yet?” Honey Lemon bit her lip.

“No. As far as we know, he still isn’t home.” Wasabi replied.

“Maybe he got away. His bag was weighing him down so he dropped it while running?” Honey Lemon, always one to try to see the silver lining, attempted.

“What’s your position? We’re coming to you.” Wasabi replied, ignoring the play at best-case-scenario.

Honey Lemon told them.

Another two hours passed. They combed the area around where the bag had been dropped all the way to where Hiro lived. No sign of the boy.

“Aunt Cass says he still hasn’t come home. She’s probably eaten half the cafe by now.” Gogo said after hanging up the phone. “We should report his disappearance to the police.”

“We’ll keep searching too? Maybe we’ll find a clue as to where he is.” Honey Lemon suggested.

“Yeah! There’s always clues when the hero’s been kidnapped!” Fred jumped in.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. We don’t  _ know _ he’s been kidnapped,” Honey Lemon said.

“But he’s in the age group, he was walking home alone,  _ and _ we found his bag abandoned.” Gogo argued, counting off her fingers. “If we can find the people or person behind the disappearances, there’s a good chance we’ll find Hiro too. I’ll file the report. You guys see what you can find.”

* * *

Hiro groaned as he came to. His head was pounding and he felt like he was going to throw up.

He opened his eyes to find himself in a room with four bunkbeds. He was on the bottom of the one in the far corner from the door. Upon sitting up, he quickly realized he was chained to the bed by his right wrist and right ankle. Other kids his age were chained to the other bunks. A camera hung over the door, keeping watch over them all.

He heard the sound of electronic locks coming undone and turned to look at the door.

“Only one’s awake in here.” Someone said.

“Then that’s all we’ll take for now.” Another replied.

Hiro tensed as the several fully masked individuals came into the room with a gurney. He was prepared to fight.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance as one of the individuals grabbed him by the throat and squeezed. He choked on the lack of air. He was released after about 20 seconds, but they moved him and handcuffed his wrists and ankles to the gurney before he had the chance to recover. They also blindfolded him.

The masked people rolled the gurney out of the cell and down the halls until they reached a laboratory. At least, it sounded like a lab from the bubbling of chemicals that he heard.

A mask that felt similar to an oxygen mask was placed over his nose and mouth. They also placed an IV in his elbow and attached a heart monitor to his finger.

“Boy, speak.” Someone said.

“What the hell do you want me to say?” Hiro scowled.

“Good. He’s still awake. Start Phase 1.”

“Phase 1? What are you…?” Hiro didn’t get the chance to finish the question before his airways stung with some kind of chemical and something heavy slid into his bloodstream via the IV. He coughed violently, and, as more chemicals entered his body, started to spasm.

He gasped for clean air, but it didn’t come. All the air entering his nose and mouth was contaminated by chemicals. He could hear the heart monitor going wild as well as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to bear the unbearable pain.

It seemed forever before he was struck by what seemed to be clean air. He was too dizzy to really register it, but the spasms soon died down.

Someone hit him. “Speak!”

“What?” He gasped.

“He’s conscious. Start Phase 2.”

“No!” Hiro exclaimed, but he had no choice in the matter as contaminated air once again filled the mask.

This time, when it ended and he was told to talk, he didn’t respond, knowing a response would only spark another painful phase of whatever they were up to.

Someone pinched him, hard. Before he could stop himself, a loud “ow!” left his lips.

“Begin Phase 3.”

And so on through a total of eight phases. Between each one, they would hurt Hiro to ensure he was awake. As the phases went on, Hiro became more and more numb to any feelings of pain or physical feelings in general. Before the final phase, they had to break his arm to get a response, and even that didn’t hurt as much as Hiro would’ve expected.

Hiro’s thoughts were extremely muddled by the time they finished. He was barely coherent and a lack of feeling had spread throughout his body.

He barely registered when he was taken out of the lab and transferred to some sort of infirmary. The blindfold was taken off, but everything was blurry.

“Clouded eyes, and slowed reactions, but it didn’t kill him. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.” The doctor said.

He was transferred to a dark room and kept on the gurney. After some time, his mind allowed him to slip into the sweet oblivion of sleep.


	2. Attempt

_ Hiro dreamt of machines coming to life. He could hear heart monitors speaking to him. Computers spouted lines of code. And, somehow, he could connect to Baymax through a signal he had been previously unaware of that seemed to connect all machines. _

_ “Your sympathetic nervous system is... active and your neurotransmitter levels are... elevated. This indicates that you are... panicked. I suggest taking deep breaths and counting to ten.” _

_ “Baymax…” _

_ “Hiro, where are you?” _

_ “I don’t know, Baymax. But please. I need help. I don’t know what these people have planned for me but I don’t think it’s good.” _

_ “My link with you is… severing.” _

_ “Baymax…” _

_ “I suggest contacting your friends. They are… worried.” _

_ “Baymax…” _

“He’s waking up.”

Hiro gasped awake. His masked captors had returned, and the room was now flooded with far too much light. So much light that it was causing pain.

All of a sudden, the lights burst and they were drenched in darkness.

“Hmm. The experiment seems to have worked far better than expected. Bring the child to the transfer room. Don’t forget to blindfold him.”

Hiro wanted to say something, to ask what was going on, but something was happening in his body that he didn’t understand. He’d never felt anything like it before. It felt like he was about to burst with energy of a type he didn’t know.

They blindfolded him and rolled him through the halls.

Hiro was surprised to find he felt the presence of many machines. Not just knew they were there, but  _ felt _ them.

He was so focused on that, he was unprepared when they arrived at the transfer room. His captors uncuffed him and threw him into the room, locking the door behind him.

He reached up and untied his blindfold.

“Hiro Hamada?” He recognized Karmi’s voice before the blindfold was fully off and before he adjusted to the harsh lighting.

“Karmi?” Hiro gaped at the girl, who was separated from him only by bars. “What? How?”

“I don’t know.” Karmi replied. “And just a warning, I can hear your every thought.”

Hiro was extremely skeptical of the statement, thinking it wasn’t funny.

“I know it’s not funny. It’s scary.” Karmi replied.

“Did I say that out loud?” Hiro gaped.

“I  _ told _ you. I can hear thoughts all of a sudden. And I can’t control it!” Karmi retorted, adding in a grumble. “Why am I stuck with  _ you _ of all people?”

Hiro gulped. “What do you think it means? I mean, all of a sudden, I feel like I can sense the presence of machines.”

“It must have to do with whatever they did to us. I heard them mentally grumbling about losing test subjects. I think people have died from this. We’re lucky to be alive. And I don’t think I’ve been here more than a couple days.”

“Same here. I was grabbed on a Friday. Do you think...?”

“Same. We must’ve been grabbed the same day.”

They stared at each other.

“That’s a good idea.” Karmi said suddenly.

“What…?” Hiro was confused.

“The one you just thought of. Let’s practice.” Karmi replied.

Hiro shrugged, realizing she’d heard the beginnings of his escape plan via her new ability.

They spent a few hours trying to form some sort of control over their new abilities.

Karmi found that, along with reading others’ thoughts, she could project her thoughts into other people’s minds.

Hiro figured his abilities went along with what was called a technopath. He could control machines. Well, control was a stretch. He could  _ affect _ machines.

Either way, when the masked people came back to -- well, do whatever they had planned, they were ready.

Hiro burst the lights in the room Karmi was in and then hammered his ability into the electric locks.

Karmi had used the distraction to slip into the hallway and Hiro soon joined her.

They ran.

~”I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but…”~ Karmi projected to Hiro.

~”Time and place, Karmi. Let’s focus on getting out.”~ Hiro thought in response.

A couple times, they were cornered by their captors, but Hiro burst the lights or any machine in the vicinity to give them the chance to get away.

Eventually, they found an exit. It also employed electric locks, but those were no match for Hiro’s new ability.

The sky outside was dark. It was nighttime. They were in a forest.

~”Where are we?”~ Hiro thought as they ran.

~”Beats me.”~ Karmi projected into his head. ~”If we can find a road, we might be able to reach the city.”~

~”The city? We can’t go to the city!”~ Hiro thought to her.

~”Why not?!”~ Karmi practically growled in his head.

~”Too many people, too many machines. We have no control. You’ll be overwhelmed by all the thoughts and I’ll break practically every machine in the area!”~ Hiro reasoned. ~”Let’s try for Muirahara Woods. It’s outside the city and not many people or machines. We’ll figure out a plan to get help once we’re there.”~

Karmi didn’t respond and they kept running as far and as fast as they could. There were people chasing them, but they soon lost them weaving through the dark woods.

“We lost them.” Hiro whispered when they stopped to catch their breath.

“Where are we, Hiro?” Karmi responded.

“I don’t know, but we were lucky to run into each other. I’m not sure either of us could’ve escaped alone.”

“We need to find a way back to San Fransokyo, or to Muirahara Woods like you said. It can’t be far. They probably snatched from the city closest to them.”

“True. But we don’t know which direction we’ve been going.”

“So we’ll climb a tree and get a look at where we are from up there.”

“Okay. Stay here.” Hiro started climbing the nearest tree, but almost immediately fell because he’d forgotten about his broken arm.

“Let me do it.” Karmi sighed. She swiftly climbed the same tree while Hiro waited at the bottom grumpily.

Upon hearing a noise, Hiro uncrossed his arms and looked around. ~”Karmi?”~

~”I’m almost to the top.”~ 

~”Hurry up.”~

A rustling sounded from a nearby bush. Hiro tensed and turned towards it. Something jumped out of the bushes and Hiro yelped.

~“Afraid of an itty bitty fox?”~

~“Shut up Karmi.”~ Hiro crossed his arms again, careful of his broken one.. ~“This is my second time outside San Fransokyo ever. How was I supposed to know it was a fox? It could’ve been our captors.”~

~“On a more important note, I don’t recognize anything, but there’s a road about half a mile to your right. As good a place to start as any.”~

~”Wait. Stay in the tree.”~

~”Why?”~

Hiro ran a ways from the tree Karmi was in.

~”Where are you going?”~ Barely had Karmi asked the question when someone tackled Hiro. ~”Hiro!”~

~“Stay!”~

“Where’s the girl?” A voice growled after a struggle ended with Hiro held down, broken arm twisted behind his back.

“I… I dunno. We split a while ago.” Hiro yelped as his attacker put pressure on his broken arm.

“Liar.”

“No! I don’t know where she is! I swear!”

“Tell us where, and we’ll let you go.”

“I told you! I don’t know! I’d gladly tell you if it meant you’d let me go, but I honestly don’t know!”

More pressure. Karmi could hear Hiro’s pain, although he didn’t scream.

“Sedate him. If he hasn’t told us by now, he really doesn’t know and we can use him as bait.”

~”Karmi. Whatever you do, don’t show yourself. Get help. It’s our only…”~ Hiro’s thoughts fuzzed and then stopped as he was sedated.

Karmi watched from the tree with horror as their captors lifted up Hiro, limp from unconsciousness, and carried him away. All the time calling for her to show herself to save her friend. It took all her strength to obey Hiro’s orders. Because he was right. Their only chance was if she got help.


	3. Too Slow for Hiro

Gogo had managed to beat a rendezvous location out of a thug after they stopped him from kidnapping another teen. Wasabi had escorted the kid home and then met them at the rendezvous point.

Now, the team was hiding, watching the exchange and preparing to attack the bad guys.

“Did you deliver?” One of the higher-ups demanded.

“Of course, sir. We’ve got ten kids in the van and more vans coming.” One of the kidnapping thugs replied.

“Good. I’ve transferred your payment. It should be appearing in your account momentarily,” the higher-up said. “Now transfer the kids to the other van.”

“When do we strike?” Wasabi whispered.

“When the other vans get here. We can’t risk them coordinating another rendezvous point and preventing us from saving all of them.” Gogo replied.

Not long after, a couple more vans pulled up.

“Now.” Gogo said as soon as the drivers stepped out of the other vans.

It didn’t take long to subdue all the crooks. They did have the element of surprise, after all.

“Where are the other kids?!” Gogo demanded of the higher-ups.

“LIke we’d tell you!” One of them spat.

“The police have been… notified. They will be here shortly.” Baymax announced.

“You’re not getting anything out of us. We’d rather die than betray our leaders to misguided good-for-nothings like you!”

“Misguided?! You’re kidnapping teenagers!” Gogo exclaimed.

“For good cause!”

“And what cause is that?!”

“To… Nice try, but we’re not falling for that!”

The police sirens sounded not far off, so the team left, disappointed in not having gotten their answers, but reassured in the fact that some of the kids were now safe and the police might have better luck of finding the rest.

* * *

A lurch woke Hiro from the drug-induced slumber. He was blindfolded, gagged, and tied up.

A couple more lurches and the vehicle he was in rolled to a stop. He heard voices and shifted slightly. His bare elbow touched skin. What had happened to his jacket? He’d had it on when they’d escaped.

“Mm. Keep your hands to yourself.”

The voice was unfamiliar, but female. He prayed it wasn’t Karmi.

“One of the girls is awake.”

“Sedate her again. She won’t want to be awake for this part.”

Hiro stayed very still. He knew they’d sedate him as well if they discovered he was conscious and that would make it a lot harder to escape.

He was pulled from the vehicle and placed on a gurney. He wasn’t moved far after that, just a couple feet.

Someone wiped his wrist on his non-broken arm with what was probably an alcohol wipe. A circular device was placed directly over his veins. A moment later, with no warning, the device sliced a circle deep into his wrist. It took all Hiro’s energy to keep himself from screaming.

The device was removed a moment later and a tube was stuck in the hole.

“Begin nanobot injection.”

No.  _ No _ . He didn’t know what the nanobots were intended to do, but it couldn’t be good. He thrashed, easily pulling free of the tube.

“Dammit! Kid’s awake!”

“If we don’t do it now, he’ll lose too much blood! Hold him still!” 

At least eight or nine hands grabbed ahold of him. The tube was jammed back into the hole in Hiro’s wrist and a whirring sound started up. The nanobots bumped against the insides of Hiro’s veins as they forced their way into his body. 

It seemed like forever before the whirring stopped and the tube was removed. Hiro’s throat was sore from screaming by the time they finished sewing his wrist back together. They made no attempt to be gentle about it. He even thought he heard someone say he deserved the pain for deceiving them in terms of his consciousness.

“Kid’s gonna suffer tonight for pretending to be unconscious still.” Someone said as Hiro’s screams faded to pained yelps and whimpering. “The nanobot integration is not a fun feeling.”

“His own fault.”

“Whatever. Let’s get him to the boys’ ward.”

* * *

The police did find the facility where the kids were being kept, but the criminals deleted all the data kept there before they could break far enough in to snag any info. What they did find was deeply disturbing.

The teens were being experimented on. The police couldn’t tell for what purpose with all the data gone and many of the criminal higher-ups killed themselves rather than let confidential information be passed on to the police.

Those that didn’t kill themselves didn’t know the information they needed.

The ditches filled with dead kids needing to be identified proved the surviving number was much,  _ much _ smaller than the number kidnapped.

Families were told to assume the worst. Even if their kid was not identified among the dead, it was not likely they’d see them again anytime soon, if ever at all.

The only reunions with families were involving the kids who hadn’t woken from their initial kidnapping before the police came, the kids who were caught mid-experiment still alive, albeit very weak and disoriented, or the one or two survivors who had yet to be transferred to another facility.

The gang were devastated to find Hiro was none of the above. They were too late. There was no other explanation.

Hiro was gone.


	4. A New Status Quo 1

Hiro was in pain. A lot of pain.

He’d been transferred to a bed a while ago. It was softer and cushier than the bunk he’d initially woken up on at the start of this whole debacle, but the nanobots allowed no part of him to feel comfortable.

Suddenly, an electric jolt shot through the boy. Then, the pain stopped. Carefully, Hiro cracked one eye open, then the other. He pushed himself up shakily with his good arm, wincing when it hurt his wounded wrist.

He was in one of those dormitories you see in the movies, a large room with a bunch of beds. Other boys, ranging in age from 11 to 17, milled about the room in groups organized mostly by age, or apparent age.

“Hey! One of the newbies is awake!” A boy who looked pretty young shouted, jumping onto Hiro’s bed and causing it to bounce just enough to knock Hiro down. “Oh. Sorry. I’m Colin. What’s your name?”

Most of the boys wandered over to meet the newcomer. Hiro was unnerved by all the attention.

“Um… I’m Hiro,” he mumbled once he managed to push himself back up.

An older boy, probably around 16 or 17, joined the conversation. “I’m Andrew. I’m one of the oldest and the others designated me the leader. We should probably tell you what happens around here. They train us to use our new abilities, but try anything they don’t like, attempt to escape, or disobey orders and you’ll be writhing in pain in seconds due to the nanobots.”

“That’s what they’re for? To keep us in line?” Hiro asked.

“If you disobey too much, they can take full control of your limbs or kill you,” Colin added. “It happened to my older brother, and several others.”

“We’re pretty much free to wander the halls, but we can’t go over to the girls’ side. They’re separate. Also, even one step outside counts as an escape attempt. Be careful not to go out of the building,” Andrew continued. “Be good, and you might not need to feel the nanobot experience. You don’t strike me as the type to just stay in line though. I can see in your eyes you’re already planning something.”

“How many teens are here?”

“Less than a hundred of each gender from across the country. Don’t even think about raising a coup. They have a shock all girls button, a shock all boys button, and a shock everyone button. We know that from experience.”

“There must be some way to…”

“Trust me. We’ve tried everything.”

Hiro bit his lip. “What about contacting outside forces?”

“Oh. Another rule. No touching the computers. For staff use only.”

Hiro grimaced. Getting out was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

* * *

Karmi was thirsty. Thirsty and tired and hungry too. It had taken hours to find a road and a direction to go in, and then almost a full day and night to get to a small town where she could get some food. She had no money though, so she stole some from a dumpster, daring not show herself to anyone who might report her location.

Three days later, she was finally in sight of a highway leading to San Fransokyo. It was nighttime when she did and she did her best to stay out of sight along the treeless highway. She hadn’t encountered many people so far, but several people tried to give her a ride along the highway.

She refused all offers and made her way cautiously and slowly to San Fransokyo. She was within eyesight of the city when a police car stopped beside her. She ran before they could say anything.

She was almost there! Almost! She couldn’t let herself be caught now!

The police car followed her, careful not to let her out of their sight. It unnerved her, but she easily lost them in the crowds crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge.

She fumbled with the door to the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab at SFIT. Professor Granville was the first to notice her, everything falling out of her hands as the girl raced past.

“Karmi!” She stopped and turned to look at Professor Granville. The woman was looking at her in concern.

Karmi knew she didn’t look very good. She’d been traipsing through wilderness and highway for days, learning from trial and error how to block out the masses of thoughts flowing into her head.

When she saw Professor Granville though, something in her broke and she fell to her knees, just sobbing.

She was safe.


	5. A New Status Quo 2

“We want you to control the robot, not break it, 1387.”

Hiro frowned deeply at the use of his given number. The other boys were able to call him by his name, but the adults would only call him by his assigned subject number.

The robot was starting to steam, but Hiro focused and managed to get it to take two steps forward before breaking.

“Improvement, I see.” The leader of the adults was a woman. She would pop in randomly to check on subject progress, typically more often with the newbies. “I want him in this room until he can make a robot walk from one wall to the opposite. No meals, no water, no bathroom breaks. See if it’ll speed up his improvement.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hiro looked up and watched her go. Because she wore a mask, he knew it would be extremely hard to identify her to police, but he wouldn’t let that stop him when he finally got out. He’d find a way to get her arrested somehow.

“You heard her, 1387. I’m locking you in here until you can walk one of the robots from one wall to the one directly across from it.”

It had taken two weeks for Hiro to even get the robot to take a record of five steps, and the room was big and the robot was small. How was he supposed to make it walk across the room, at least a hundred tiny robot steps, before he died from starvation?

As it turn out, hunger was a huge motivating factor. So was thirst. By the end of the third day, he managed to get the robot across the room.

He was rewarded with a single bottle of water and a single sandwich before being shoved back in and told to make the robot go across  _ and _ back.

At the end of the next three days, he was too exhausted to do much more than (finally) collapse on his bed in the dormitory.

He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.

* * *

It took a lot of convincing and moral support to get Karmi to tell the police her story. While she didn’t think they’d have killed Hiro for trying to escape – he was much too valuable to them, she claimed – she was not certain he hadn’t been killed by other factors and she felt extremely guilty for obeying and leaving him and being so reluctant to get help. 

The police had identified all of the kids, dead and alive, from the facility. Hiro wasn’t among them. Along with Karmi, he’d been one of a total of eight unaccounted for from San Fransokyo.

Karmi believed the other seven unaccounted for had been moved to another facility. She said that’s what they’d been planning to do to her and Hiro before the escape attempt. She had no idea where the other facility was, though, because nobody had thought about it. Quite possibly, they hadn’t known, their orders to take the two to a rendezvous point rather than the actual facility.

Still, they had one factor to go off of. Hiro was a technopath with little control over his powers, which meant any technological anomalies could be clues to his location. They just hoped someone would report the anomalies rather than brush them off.


	6. Technopathic Flaws

Hiro dragged his feet as he walked through the halls. He didn’t have anywhere to be at the moment. He’d pretty much "mastered" his abilities (according to some people), and, after a couple rounds of the “nanobot experience,” he wasn’t really eager to do anything against the rules.

A lot of kids at the facility meditated to gain better control of their powers. Hiro wasn’t very good at it, but he sank down against one of the walls with the decision to try again.

As he tried to clear his mind, he accidentally sent out a pulse, knocking out the electricity in the whole facility again. Of course, his eyes were closed, so he didn’t notice until the nanobots suddenly activated, causing him extreme pain.

When he came to again, some of the executives were standing above him angrily.

“Don’t try that again.” One growled.

“I…” Hiro noticed the lights were out. “Oh. Oops… Guess meditation is a no-go.” His shoulders slumped. Why couldn’t he gain complete control of his powers? Wasn’t it bad enough he had them in the first place without the lack of control that was tormenting him?

One of the executives yanked him to his feet. “Knock out the electricity again, and it won’t just be a shock or pain, you hear me? We’ll take complete control of you.”

Hiro’s heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened in fear. “Y-yes sir.”

He wobbled unsteadily when the executive let go, but used the wall to keep himself upright.

“Take him to one of the power-blocking confinement rooms. He deserves further punishment. It’s the third time he’s done this.” Hiro’s head swung around to face the leader. He didn’t manage to spot her before he was dragged away though.

Ten minutes found him curled up in a small room used for solitary confinement. The walls were built to block his powers from leaking through, but he was too scared to try meditation or anything similar to pass the time again anyways.

Ever so slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

_He was back at the showcase. Tadashi gave him a high five as he swooped by with the microbots. Then, the microbots morphed, overwhelming and restraining him._

_“You let me die.” Tadashi wasn’t Tadashi anymore. He looked more like the devil. “You let me die, Little Brother. Soon you will die too.”_

_“No. I don’t want to die.” Hiro whimpered. “I want to go home. To Aunt Cass. And you. And the others.”_

_“Newsflash, Little Brother. That’s never going to happen. You’ll be stuck here until either they take complete control of your body, or you die. Nobody’s coming to save you. That’s just a fantasy.”_

_“No. You’re wrong!”_

_“Have I ever been wrong, Little Brother? Ever?”_

_Hiro gulped. “Yes. You were wrong when you thought you could save Professor Callaghan. You died because of it. You’re not here. I’m just dreaming.”_

_“But are you really dreaming? You could be dead already. You never know.”_

_“No. No… BAYMAX!!!”_

Hiro awoke with a start. He could feel something, some sort of link. Desperately, he grasped at it. It solidified.

“Hiro.” A sob. It was Baymax. Somehow, he’d managed to link to Baymax. “Your neurotransmitter levels are low. You are sad.”

“Baymax, please. You have to find me. Please… I don’t want to die here. C-can you track this link?”

“Affirmative. I shall bring others to help.”

“Thank you, Baymax. Thank you.”

Comforted, Hiro passed out once more.

* * *

“We’ve received word of a strange power outage in rural Nebraska. Cause undetermined. It seemed as if the circuits all fried at the same unexpected moment.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. But we’ve traced the center to a padlocked barn.”

“Do you think this could be related to the missing kids?”

“I’m uncertain, but it’s quite possible. Residents say this is the second time the circuits have been fried in the past week. The first time was a much smaller radius. And we got that tip that one of the kids was turned into a technopath with little control over his powers. It’s worth investigating. Agents Bernard and Weinstein will go with you. Keep in contact at all times.”

* * *

“Why did Baymax lead us to the middle of nowhere Nebraska?” Gogo huffed as the helicopter landed in an empty field, occupied only by some stacks of hay, them, and Baymax.

“Maybe he’s out of battery.” Wasabi suggested.

“I am not out of battery.” Baymax replied. “I have approximately twenty percent battery remaining.” The battery gauge popped up on his stomach.

“Perhaps he’s found something important?” Honey Lemon suggested optimistically.

“In Nebraska?” Gogo retorted, unconvinced.

“FBI! Freeze!”

All four friends put their hands in the air, spinning around in surprise.

Three FBI agents were pointing guns at them.

“This seems to be a major misunderstanding.” Wasabi murmured.

Fred took a tentative step forward. The guns re-aimed at him.

“Um… can we maybe talk this out? The robot led us here. We know probably less than you do.”

The agents conferred with each other in whispers before finally lowering their guns.

The one male out of the three agents stepped forward. “I’m Agent Bernard. These are Agents Lemons and Weinstein. Might I ask who you are?”

“We’re the Big Hero 6, from San Fransokyo. Like we said, the robot led us here. We aren’t a hundred percent sure why,” Wasabi spoke for their group.

“It’s quite possibly linked to a missing friend of ours though. The robot was closest to him,” Gogo cut in, careful to avoid saying Baymax’s name.

“Scan complete.” They all turned to Baymax, who was looking at the ground. “I detect approximately three hundred life forms below us. A hundred ninety-eight of which are minors.”

“An underground bunker?” Agent Weinstein breathed out. “With nearly two hundred children?”

“Is Hiro one of them?” Honey Lemon whispered.

“Affirmative,” Baymax replied.

“We need to be careful how we proceed,” Agent Lemons exclaimed. “If we’re too brash, any of those kids could end up hurt.”

“If they’re not hurt already…” Gogo added.

“Are any of you stealthy?” Agent Bernard asked.

“Mostly just her,” Wasabi pointed a thumb at Gogo.

“Then the rest of you stay out here, hidden, while we check this place out,” Agent Bernard said. “We need to know for sure this is what we came for before going in for a rescue.”

“Got it.”


	7. Is This A Rescue?

It had been nearly three days since Hiro was put in confinement. Finally, the door opened and he was let out.

“Don’t try anything else, boy.”

Hiro sighed. He hadn’t done it on purpose, but oh well. He trudged towards the boys’ dormitory. Three days with nothing but a single water bottle brought the trudge to something closer to a stumble, but he barely noticed.

Halfway there, he bumped into someone, literally. Lifting his eyes, he was about to apologize when he saw who it was.

Gogo was right in front of him, frozen in horror at having been caught.

He took a step back as she turned to see who had bumped into her.

Analyzing the scene, he saw three unfamiliar people who he’d never seen before in the facility with her.

She mouthed his name as he backed away slowly.

Spinning on his heel, he ran, but was quickly tackled and his mouth covered.

“He’s not going to tell anyone!” Gogo hissed.

Hiro wanted to tell her she didn’t know that for sure, but, on second thought, knew she was right. They were his key out of here. He wasn’t gonna tell anyone.

Then, his eyes lifted to the ceiling, where the cameras were staring right at him.

Crap.

He froze. He didn’t know what to do. They already knew and were probably watching to see his reaction.

“Can’t take the risk,” the person on top of him hissed, to his relief. He felt a pinch in his arm, and his consciousness faded away.

* * *

“I’m telling you, he didn’t give us away!” Gogo hissed.

“They got there seconds after we sedated him!”

“That doesn’t mean he contacted them!”

“Whatever. Did you contact your teammates?”

“Yes. But I’m worried it won’t be enough. If they break us out and don’t attempt a rescue of those kids now, we’ll be back at square one. They’ll move them before we can get backup.”

“Yet if we do it now, we may not have enough manpower. I got you.”

“We can’t count on any of the kids for help. They’re scared. I’ll bet these freaks have something to keep them in line.”

“I’m not leaving them behind. Not without a fight.”

“We’re with you there, Miss. No guarantees though.”

“All the more reason to put up a fight.”

“But for now, we wait.”

“Now, we wait.”

* * *

Hiro came to slowly to the sound of alarms blaring all around him. The sound hurt his ears and he was too out of it to suppress his instinct to lash out against the sound.

A shattering sound reminded him where he was and his eyes shot open before wincing at the bright lights. He pleaded with his eyes to adjust as he shakily got to his feet.

Somebody grabbed him and he thrashed in their hold.

“Hiro! It’s me!” Andrew exclaimed.

Hiro’s struggles slowed to a stop and he blinked groggily at Andrew before nearly collapsing. Andrew caught him.

“Dammit. You’re in no state to help right now, are you?”

“H-help with what?” Hiro muttered.

“Someone’s trying to help us get out,” Andrew whispered in his ear. “You’re the only one who could possibly deactivate the nanobots remotely. We can’t help them help us while the nanobots are active. Please, Hiro. You’re our only chance.”

Hiro’s mind spun with the new information. They were being rescued? Andrew was right. There was no way they could cooperate with the rescuers while the nanobots were active, but…

“C-can you get me close?” Hiro mumbled.

Andrew nodded and pulled Hiro’s arm over his shoulder, stooping a little because Hiro was so much shorter than him.

Carefully, he snuck Hiro through the halls that were now silent with the exception of distant fighting noises.

He pulled him into a restroom just over halfway there. “They’re guarding it closely. This is as far as I can get you without our motive being questioned. Do you think it’ll work?”

“I can try.” Hiro pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to lessen his pounding headache. He needed to focus if he was going to attempt this ultimate act of rebellion and not die or be killed in the process. “Keep watch.”

“Gotcha.”

Hiro closed his eyes and, after a few moments pleading with his head to stop aching, proceeded to find a link leading to the main control room. Mentally, he took stock of all the machines there. The nanobots weren’t controlled by a single computer, he found, but rather by several working in tandem. Take down one, and the rest would send out a shockwave knocking out all the kids there. 

That meant the only option was to take them all down at once. But how?

He immediately knew. He had to send a shutdown sequence from one computer to all of the others and then destroy them. Risky, but it was their only chance.

Taking a deep breath, he focused harder, coding the shutdown sequence and preparing to send it to all the others. He could hear voices closeby, but ignored them.

He had just sent the shutdown sequence as a shockwave through all the computers when something slammed into him. He gasped, his eyes flying open.

“Hiro!” Andrew coughed.

It was with dazed horror that Hiro realized someone had thrown some sort of grenade at the bathroom where they had taken refuge.

He touched a hand to his head and it came away sticky. Someone grabbed him.

“Take them to the rest we managed to grab. Let’s get out of here.” It was one of the execs. He knew that much.

“The older boy. The other boys answer to him. He’s not useful. Invisibility is his only special ability. Should we kill him?” Another exec said.

“Yes. Do it and sedate the smaller one. His technopathic powers could prove a problem.” The leader agreed.

Knowing he had probably seconds before they sedated him, Hiro closed his eyes and focused all his energy on destroying the computers in the main control room.

Half a second after succeeding, the anesthetic kicked in and he fell out of wakefulness.

* * *

They’d managed to stop the jet from taking off, but a lot of the kids that were on the jet were injured in the process.

With the runway leading to open air, Agent Lemons was able to call backup, which arrived within less than half an hour.

Baymax provided medical care to the maimed kids. Most of them were sedated as well as injured, but that didn’t stop Baymax.

Honey Lemon was the first to locate Hiro, before Baymax even as the robot was occupied with fixing up the other kids. She didn’t need to even check him for injuries as it was clear he was in worse condition than most of the other kids. His limbs were bruised badly and she could hear a bit of a rattle in his chest. The most worrisome injury, though, was his head. It had been cracked open and he was bleeding profusely out of it.

Fortunately, paramedics arrived quickly to take Hiro and any other badly injured kids away.

In the worst condition was an older boy. He had nearly bled out when he was found, on the brink of death. He appeared to be the oldest boy there, 17 or even possibly 18 depending on when he was taken and when his birthday was. The boys that were awake called him Andrew, and expressed distress as he was taken away in an ambulance.

Most of the awake kids were scared of their rescuers, some even shying away from them and others mumbling about it being too good to be true. Yet others mumbled something about nanobots and resisted rescue.

Eventually, though, they were all coaxed into allowing their rescuers to take them away from that place to the closest military base some fifty miles away. They were reassured their injured friends would join them shortly.

It took some convincing on Big Hero 6’s part to avoid their gaining credit for the rescue. While the publicity wouldn’t necessarily be bad, they didn’t want to answer further questions on what they’d been doing in Nebraska of all places.

They returned home to San Fransokyo and awaited the news that Hiro was okay.


	8. And Now on News Nebraska

“Rumor has it the FBI had help with the rescue, is that correct?”

“Yes, a group that wishes to remain anonymous was in the right place at the right time. The rescue would not have been possible without them. Now I’m the type of woman to give credit where credit’s due, but they made it quite clear they didn’t want the questions that would accompany the publicity. I understand that, so I’ll respect their decision.”

“And where are the rescued kids now?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. Right now, only parents and guardians are allowed to know, because the leader of their captors is still out there and the kids are not a hundred percent safe.”

“What can you tell us about the cruelty these children had to deal with?”

“Not much, really. I’m not allowed to share details of ongoing court cases. It’s confidential. I can tell you that those kids suffered greatly and would do well to live out the rest of their lives in peace if only that were possible.”

Cass clicked off the television and turned to face her nephew again. The doctors had claimed that sedatives had worsened his condition and knocked him into a coma. It had been three days since she’d been brought to his side and he still hadn’t woken up.

She squeezed his hand and sighed. Maybe she should get something to eat. She hadn’t eaten since yesterday simply because there was no food within easy reach. Despite her temptation to stress eat, she could hardly bring herself to leave Hiro’s side for even a moment.

Suddenly, Hiro twitched. Cass didn’t notice at first, but then he twitched again, and again, until the heart monitor started going wild and he was full-out spasming.

“Doctor!!!” Cass shouted in panic as the spasms increased in multitude, bordering on really bad seizure level.

Several doctors came running. Some electrical equipment nearby, including the heart monitor, exploded, blowing Cass away from Hiro.

“Hiro!” Cass screamed as the doctors took hold of her nephew’s shaking limbs and tried to strap him down.

“Ma’am, stay back!” One of the nurses told her. “Let the doctors handle it!”

As suddenly as it started, the spasms slowed to a stop. A doctor managed to attach another heart monitor and turn it on just for it to start screeching no heartbeat.

Cass’s eyes widened, tears beginning to leak out. “No…”

The doctors went to work trying to resuscitate the boy. As soon as they got a weak pulse, they rushed him off to surgery while the nurse comforted his sobbing aunt.

* * *

It had been twelve hours since the discovery of the nanobots in Hiro’s body working in tandem to kill him. Since then, the military doctors had found, been told by one of the kids, that all the kids had them. So, while one group of doctors worked hard to save Hiro’s life (and Andrew’s, same thing happened to him), other doctors worked on flushing the nanobots from the other kids’ bodies.

While successful, the process had greatly weakened all the kids, and none more so than Hiro and Andrew. The two boys had already been weak from their injuries and the nanobots’ attack on their bodies. Now the doctors’ predictions had gone from waking up soon most likely to possibly never waking up at all. Their families were devastated.

Cass found she could no longer afford to stay with her nephew rather than running the cafe, so she reluctantly left him in the capable hands of the military doctors and returned to San Fransokyo.

She prayed every day that they would call her with good news, but weeks passed with no call from them. She called herself a couple times, but only got the report of no change.

The worst part was seeing his friends. She wasn’t allowed to tell them the situation and they could tell she knew something they didn’t, even confronting her a couple times. Those confrontations just ended with her shaking her head and turning away to continue whatever task she was busying herself with.

It had been two and a half months when she got a call, but it wasn’t the nephew she was expecting it to be.

“Tadashi?!”


	9. Tadashi's Here :)

When Tadashi woke up, he wasn’t expecting the showcase in which Hiro had competed for admission to be nearly a year and a half ago.

Aunt Cass was noticeably surprised to hear from him. In fact, considering he’d been considered dead, he was surprised she even believed him.

She was at the hospital within the hour. The first thing Tadashi noticed when he saw her was her appearance. She had bags under her eyes and looked exhausted. Despite the exhaustion, she plastered on a smile and seemed very happy to see Tadashi.

The second thing he noticed was that Hiro wasn’t with her. It was this fact that he commented on.

“Where’s Hiro?” Aunt Cass’s expression fell at the question.

“He… He’s busy right now. I didn’t want to interrupt him.”

Tadashi’s gut told him she was lying. He decided not to comment further on it. Something told him he didn’t want to know.

He was released from the hospital the next day, and he and Aunt Cass had a silent ride home.

When they arrived, Aunt Cass turned the engine off, but stayed seated.

“We thought you would dead, Tadashi.”

“I know. I heard. I wasn’t expecting it to turn out this way.”

“You ran into a fire. According to Hiro, at least. What did you expect us to think when you didn’t come out?”

“Is Hiro okay? Did he make it through alright?”

“He made it through your death. Though he was depressed for a while after it. Your friends got him through it, I think.”

Tadashi hummed. “Where’s Hiro now?”

Aunt Cass opened the door. “Go to bed, Tadashi. You’ll see him soon enough.”

Avoidance. Not a good sign. What had happened to Hiro? Tadashi would’ve thought his little brother would jump at the chance to see him again, but he hadn’t come to see him once since the call to Aunt Cass.

He stayed up late waiting for Hiro to come home, but he never did.

The next day, his friends came by. They were shocked to see him. Apparently, Aunt Cass hadn’t told them about his survival.

Once they got over their shock, Gogo punched him, hard, and started yelling at him for running into the fire in the first place.

Then, they were all scolding him in their own ways, for dying, for leaving Hiro, for leaving them.

When they finally calmed down enough to just stare at him, he knew he had to ask.

“Where  _ is _ Hiro?”

They exchanged glances. “We… don’t know for sure. But we have some ideas…”

“Your aunt knows more than we do. But she’s reluctant to talk about it, so something must’ve happened.”

“We’re not even supposed to know what we do. We’re supposed to know about as much as the general public, which is nothing.”

“But we have sources. He’s somewhere in Nebraska.”

“Neb…!”

“Shhhh! Not so loud!”

“We’re alone in my house.”

“There’s a cafe downstairs filled with people. Not so loud.”

Tadashi flopped down on the couch, a hand to his forehead in exasperation. “Tell me everything you know and how you know it.”

“It started about six months ago…”

* * *

“You’re fucking kidding me.” Tadashi scowled at them. “And I’m not in the mood for joking.”

“You can ask anyone about the kids and teens. They’ll say the same things. Even online if you look for it. Just don’t mention Nebraska. You won’t hear that from anyone else and no one’s supposed to know.”

“How do you know?”

“We were there!”

“No. No, we weren’t there. Freddie doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“So that’s how you know things you’re not supposed to? You were there, in Nebraska, during the rescue.” Tadashi clenched his teeth. “And you don’t know where exactly Hiro is now. Just that he’s injured?”

“Yeah. Your aunt won’t tell us anything. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll tell you. She can’t keep it from you forever. She’s got to know that.”

“I need to see Hiro.”

“The only way you’ll be able to see him is if you convince your aunt to take you. She’s been reluctant towards us. Maybe she’ll be less reluctant towards you. You’re family, after all.” Gogo put a hand on Tadashi’s shoulder. “We’re worried about him too, Tadashi. Your aunt wouldn’t be so tight-lipped if he were okay.”

“I find it hard to believe Aunt Cass as being tight-lipped at all, but I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Thank you. Even if you’re not allowed to tell us anything useful, can you at least tell us whether he’s okay or not when you find out?”

“Yeah. I’ll let you guys know. Thanks for telling me what you do know.”

“Anytime, Tadashi.”


	10. Hi Karmi

“It’s been three days, Aunt Cass! Where is Hiro?!”

“He’s busy.”

“Too busy to come home?”

“You’re just asleep when…”

“I stayed up all night last night. He didn’t come home.”

“Tadashi, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So you admit something did happen to him. What happened?”

“Tadashi…”

“He’s alive.” They both spun to face a brunette who’d just approached them, wallet out to probably get a pastry or coffee. “She doesn’t want to tell you because he’s comatose.”

“H-how do you know that?” Aunt Cass stammered.

“He’s comatose? Hiro’s comatose?” Tadashi looked between the two females, Aunt Cass surprised and the girl focused.

“I’m Karmi, by the way,” The girl said, “I know Hiro from SFIT.”

“Tell me how you got that information,” Aunt Cass demanded. “No one’s supposed to know that.”

“You were thinking it,” Karmi said simply.

“Are you psychic or something?” Tadashi asked.

“Or something,” Karmi replied. “I’d like a double-espresso latte with cream and a strawberry donut please.”

Aunt Cass snapped out of her daze to take the payment and prepare the order. She left Tadashi with Karmi while she bustled about to make the coffee.

“She’s just trying to protect him, you know. The information is classified because he’s in danger.” Karmi told Tadashi. “I came to see if I could discreetly get information, but you were asking about it too and I recognize you from pictures. You’re Tadashi, right?”

“Yeah. That’s me.”

Karmi nodded slowly. “He gave himself up so I could escape. He’s the reason I’m not dead or stuck wherever the rest of the survivors are.”

“He sacrificed himself for you?”

“I was surprised too. We’re rivals. We hate… or well I guess it’s past tense now since I don’t really anymore. We hated each other.” She sighed. “He was always so annoyed at my crush on Captain Cutie. For a time, I wondered if he had a crush on me. I still haven’t figured it out though.”

“Who’s Captain Cutie?” Tadashi was confused. He supposed the name was made-up, but he knew nothing about who it might refer to.

“That’s right. You weren’t around for the Big Hero 6, were you?”

“Uh… no?”

Aunt Cass returned with Karmi’s coffee and strawberry donut. “Here.”

“Why don’t we take a seat? I can tell you all about them,” Karmi suggested, before thanking Aunt Cass.

Tadashi shrugged. He had nothing better to do. “Why not?”

* * *

“You talked my brother into creating a superhero team?!” Tadashi whisper-yelled into the group-call on his phone.

“Whoa now. That is not how it went,” Wasabi replied.

“It was a one-off until Fred talked us into doing it more often,” Gogo corrected, “Blame Fred.”

“But look at how much good it’s done us! And the city!” Fred defended.

“You say that without considering the mass abduction that it took too long to stop,” Gogo retorted. “And the trouble you caused before you had Mini-Max to distract you.”

“That’s what he’s for? I thought you were giving me a sidekick!”

“We’re getting off-topic, guys,” Honey Lemon reminded. “Did you find out anything about Hiro?”

“Aunt Cass still won’t tell me his location, but she hounded this girl who supposedly read her mind. Karmi, I think it was? She was the one who told me about the Big Hero 6.”

“Dude! She doesn’t know it’s us, does she?”

“Not to my knowledge, but she’s a mind reader supposedly, so hard to say.”

“Well, what did Karmi say after she read your aunt’s mind?”

Tadashi bit his lip. “She said he was comatose. And Aunt Cass was freaked that she knew that, so it’s probably true.”

“Comatose? We thought he was just unconscious when we saw him during the rescue.”

“He did have that head wound though.”

“But Baymax treated it.”

“Doesn’t mean it couldn’t cause problems.”

“I can’t tell you any more information. Aunt Cass sat me down and explained to me why I can’t tell anyone anything about where he is or what his condition is.”

“Okay. We’ve got to go. We’ve got class soon. We’ll see you later?”

“Yeah. Feel free to come by the cafe whenever you can.”

His friends gave him various responses and hung up. Tadashi rubbed his face. He didn’t know how to react. He’d missed so much. And now Hiro was comatose and in danger. How does he respond to that? He hoped Aunt Cass would open up soon and give him more info, so that he could see Hiro for himself.


	11. A Painful Waking

The military doctors were sure the kid was coming closer to awareness every day that passed. The damaged equipment was a good indication of that. He never came close enough to full wakefulness to open his eyes, or to stop the intruding nightmares that caused him to lash out, destroying technology in the process. The doctors didn’t dare add sedation for fear it would worsen his condition, but the damaged equipment was getting up to a hefty price tag.

They thought about calling his aunt, but evidence showed the kids’ families who weren’t currently at the base were being monitored by their enemies. All phone lines were cut off to protect them.

This precaution was why Hiro woke up to an empty room, no family members in sight.

His eyes just wandered the room for a bit, taking in his dim surroundings. It was nighttime, and a lingering fear in his chest urged him to find one of the other boys. Andrew, maybe. There was something in his throat. He shifted his hand slightly and felt the pull of an IV and a heart monitor.

The door opened and a doctor entered. The doctor froze a moment, locking eyes with Hiro. But only for a moment. He quickly rushed over to Hiro’s side.

“Hiro, I’m going to take the feeding tube out, okay? You’ve been in a coma for months now.”

Unable to speak, Hiro just stared at him. He winced as the feeding tube was pulled out through his throat.

“Can you speak?”

Hiro’s throat felt sore, but he tried to voice his questions. “Where am…?”

An explosion rocked the base. Warning sirens started blaring.

The doctor and Hiro locked eyes, a question of “What was that?” lingering in both of them.

More explosions sounded, and there was screaming. The doctor ran to the door of the room, stopping a nurse running past.

“The base is under attack! We’ve got to get the kids to safety!” The nurse breathed.

“Get a gurney. Hiro just woke up, but there’s no way he’s strong enough to run,” The doctor replied.

The nurse nodded once and rushed off.

More explosions. The ceiling was beginning to lose stability.

The nurse returned and she and the doctor swiftly transferred Hiro to the gurney. They had just pulled the gurney into the hallway when the room Hiro had been in was hit by a falling bomb. Shrapnel hit the doctor and nurse, the former shielding Hiro from it. Hiro tried to move, but knew then that his life was out of his hands. He couldn’t get to safety on his own.

“How’d they find us?”

“Someone must’ve squealed.”

Hiro squeezed his eyes shut as he was rushed through the halls. He was scared and didn’t want to watch as the doctor and nurse tried to get him out in case they failed.

He must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew he was somewhere else. He didn't know where. It was dark, but he couldn’t feel heavy debris on him, so he must’ve gotten out. The only thing on top of him was something light as a blanket, but in many separate pieces, kind of like…

He gasped, and struggled to push himself up. Leaves! He was covered in leaves!

Some leaves fell off of him, but he was too weak to wipe the rest off. His eyes were free now, though. He could see the sky full of smoke, the sun just peeking out over the horizon.

He was alone, as far as he could tell. The doctor and nurse must’ve saved him by hiding him.

He heard a helicopter overhead and went still. From his vantage-point, he could only really see the sky. He must be in some sort of ditch.

He was passed over by a news crew, but they took no note of him. Could they not see him? Or was he surrounded by bodies he wasn’t aware of? He closed his eyes, hoping someone would find him soon.

* * *

Tadashi rushed down to the kitchen on the middle floor when he heard a crash and shattering sound.

Aunt Cass was staring at something in horror. Following her gaze, he saw she was staring at a news report. The news station was reporting about a bombing and destruction of a military base…  _ in Nebraska _ .

“Aunt Cass!” He sped over to her, grabbing her arms. “Please tell me that’s not where Hiro is! Please!”

Aunt Cass looked over at him, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She nodded once.

Tadashi turned to stare at the news report, full of terror for the fate of his little brother.


	12. Found

Hiro had been going through periods of wakefulness and sleeping, wakefulness and sleeping. During the time he was awake, he tried to move, to let someone know he was there. No one came.

The third day (at least he thought it was the third day. The sun had risen three times.) after the attack, he woke to shouting very close to his position.

“Oy! There’s a kid down here! In the ditch!” 

He cracked his eyes open, just enough to see but not enough for them to be able to tell he was awake. There was a man in a military uniform sliding down the hill towards him. Another man on his other side put two fingers to Hiro’s neck.

“He’s got a pulse!”

“Damn! He must be hurt! Probably didn’t say anything because he couldn’t say anything!”

Two hands slid under his body, jarring him slightly. A low moan escaped his lips before he could suppress it as he was lifted up, his eyes sliding shut once more. The moan was followed by coughing. He felt weak and dizzy and his throat was sore and dry.

“Keep him away from the news crews. It’s likely he’s one of those rescued kids. This must be where they were being kept for safety. It would explain why it was attacked.” One of the military men whispered.

They’d been rescued? Hiro remembered Andrew mentioning something of the sort, and then getting sedated. He must’ve been in his coma the entire time from the rescue to the attack.

What had happened to Andrew? The leader had ordered her lackeys to kill the older boy. Was he dead? Hiro hoped not. He liked Andrew.

“Hey. Are you awake, kid?” The voice of the other military man speaking to him brought him back to the present.

Hiro forced his eyes open, feeling a wave of nausea cross over him from the sunlight.

“Don’t try to speak. Your throat’s probably really dry and you’re hurt from the attack on the base. Do you think you can manage to drink some water?”

Hiro tried to nod, but could barely move his head.

The military man lifted a bottle to Hiro’s lips and dribbled in the water slowly. “Easy now. Where’s your family?”

Hiro blinked at him drowsily. Even if he knew, he had no energy to answer.

He heard a car pull up to them and watched the sky as he was laid on the backseat of a jeep. The military man climbed in after him.

“Hang in there, kiddo. We’re gonna get you some care, okay?”

Hiro let his eyes slide shut once more as the jeep bumped over the uneven terrain towards wherever the military men were taking him.

* * *

Tadashi paced the room, waiting for any news possible.

Aunt Cass had gone straight to Nebraska to see if she could find out what had happened to Hiro. She’d demanded Tadashi mind the cafe and wait in San Fransokyo in case a phone call came. She promised to call every night of her trip, even if she had no news.

The first night, she’d told him they were still extracting bodies from the ruins of the base. She wasn’t allowed close. They thought she was a news reporter, even after she claimed she was looking for a relative who’d been there.

The second night, no further news.

It was now the third night. She hadn’t called yet.

The phone rang and he dove for it. “Hello?”

“Hello, can I speak to a Miss Cassandra Hamada please?”

Tadashi drooped in disappointment. “She’s not here at the moment. Can I take a message?”

“Do you know when she’ll be back?”

“Not anytime soon. She went… somewhere to search for my brother.”

“Are you a relative?”

“Yes. I’m her nephew.”

“I see. How soon could one of you make it to the General Hospital in O’Neill, Nebraska? It’s urgent.”

“Is my brother there?!”

“If his name’s Hiro, yes.”

“I’ll let her know and we’ll head there right away!”

“Alright. Um… the military people say not to tell anyone else besides her.”

“Got it. Thank you for calling.” Tadashi hung up, buzzing with anxious energy. If they knew who to call, did that mean Hiro was awake? How did they get the number? Was this a trap?

He shook his head and dialed Aunt Cass.

“Tadashi? I was about to call…”

“You need to go to the General Hospital in O’Neill.”

“What?”

“Someone just called. They said Hiro’s there!”

“Alright. I’m going.”

“Let me know when you get there.”

“Alright. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

* * *

Hiro felt better. The doctors at the General Hospital had got him on nutrients and helped him swallow some more water.

It had been an hour since he’d given the doctor Aunt Cass’s number. He didn’t know where he was, but he doubted an hour was long enough for Aunt Cass to get there from San Fransokyo.

A nurse took his temperature and hummed. “Your temperature’s slightly high, but not enough to be a fever. Here. Drink some more water.” Hiro nodded and opened his mouth to accept the drink. He was still too weak to really move, but he could swallow.

The drink felt thicker than normal water. He closed his mouth quickly. Something was wrong.

The nurse hurried away as Hiro’s health plunged due to the fast-working poison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Hiro. Can't catch a break. :(


	13. Amberly's Hospital

The doctors flew past Cass with a gurney. It took her a moment to realize the puff of black hair she’d seen as they rushed by was Hiro. She ran after them, but the door to the emergency room slammed shut in her face.

What had happened? Hiro had been in a coma last she’d seen him, but not requiring emergency care.

She bit her lip. What if she lost him? What if she lost Hiro? She’d lost Tadashi, but then she’d had Hiro to focus on to get her through it. She couldn’t lose Hiro. Not now. Not ever.

An hour passed. Then another. Cass found out the problem had been poison. Someone had poisoned Hiro while he was too weak to stop them.

It was the next morning by the time she was able to see Hiro. Tadashi was spam texting her. She’d told him she’d arrived a while back, but never anything about Hiro.

Barely had she run her hand through her younger nephew’s hair when a heart monitor blew up, making her jump. She put a hand to her chest to calm herself as the doctors ran into the room in panic.

They puzzled over the destroyed heart monitor, but Cass dared not tell them the reason behind it. Instead, she focused her eyes on Hiro.

“Aunt Cass?” He croaked, eyes open.

Cass was surprised. When had he woken from his coma? Why hadn’t she been told about it?

But she knew the answer to those questions. The attack on the military base. That was why she hadn’t been contacted.

“Hiro. Hiro, sweetie. How are you feeling?”

“Not good.” Hiro replied. “What happened to everyone? The other kids? What happened to them?”

Cass’s heart clenched. “We don’t know. I don’t know. I was in San Fransokyo when the base was attacked.”

“How long was I out?”

“Nearly four months.”

Hiro’s eyes slid closed. “Mmm. Is it bad to get more sleep?”

“Your body needs rest to heal, kiddo. Rest all you need to.” The doctor cut in.

“Mmm.” Hiro’s breathing quickly evened out, indicating his falling asleep.

Cass sent Tadashi a quick text. - _ With Hiro. He’s sleeping now.- _

Tadashi’s response was swift. - _ He okay?- _

_ -He will be.- _ Cass replied before putting her phone away. She soon fell asleep next to her nephew.

* * *

Hiro was getting a new IV a couple days later when he noticed her. She was adjusting the IV bag.

Terrified, he resisted letting them insert the IV. Pulling away and yelling at them not to.

“Hiro! What’s gotten into you?!” Aunt Cass exclaimed.

“Don’t put it in! Don’t!” The doctors gave up, deciding to let him calm down first.

“Hiro! Calm down!”

But she was still there, watching with amusement.

“Amberly, why don’t you get another IV. Maybe then he’ll calm down.” She nodded at the doctor’s orders and went to walk away.

“No! Not her!” Hiro shouted.

The doctors and Aunt Cass looked confused. Amberly, if that was even her real name, looking annoyed.

“Maybe he’s mistaken me for someone else?” Amberly suggested.

But the voice only confirmed what Hiro already knew and his terror grew, beginning to escape from his body in electronic pulses, blowing up all nearby equipment.

“Amberly, maybe you should leave. Go help another patient.”

“But…”

“Now.”

Once she left the room, Hiro calmed down some, but still wouldn’t let them put the new IV in, claiming it was defective, much to the doctors’ annoyance.

Eventually, they got him a different IV, assured him Amberly hadn’t touched it, and managed to convince him to let them put it in.

That night, when Aunt Cass was asleep, but Hiro was wide awake, Amberly entered the room again.

“Leave me alone,” Hiro hissed.

“Now why would I do that, 1387?”

“I knew it was you. You’re the leader.”

“And you’re either coming with me or dying. Whether you like it or not.”

“You won’t get away with this.”

“Keep telling yourself that. I’m sure it makes you feel better.”

“Stay away.” Hiro focused on the heart monitor, causing it to scream no heartbeat. “Get out.”

Amberly growled, but left the room as confused doctors swarmed in past her.

Hiro knew she’d be back. He had to figure out a way to escape the hospital before she could kidnap or kill him.


	14. Poor Aunt Cass :'(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance for what happens in this chapter. Heh.

Aunt Cass had barely left his side since she’d gotten there, leaving Hiro to wonder who was minding the cafe while she was gone.

So he took her phone while she was asleep and scrolled through the recent calls and texts.

He was surprised to see Tadashi’s name at the top of both lists. Tapping his name revealed she’d been giving Tadashi updates about Hiro? The most recent text, sent by Tadashi two minutes ago, after Aunt Cass fell asleep, read, “Did you tell Hiro I’m alive yet?”

He frowned deeply. Tadashi was alive? Since when had Aunt Cass known? And why hadn’t she told him?

Well, the answer to that last question might be that she didn’t want to put anything else on his plate right now, even if it was good news. He was kind of overwhelmed trying not to let Amberly kidnap him.

“You know, it’s not nice to look at someone else’s phone when they’re sleeping.” Speak of the devil, and they shall appear.

Hiro looked up. “Why won’t you leave me a…” He trailed off. Amberly wasn’t alone. A big man was with her. “You’re gonna kidnap me now? With witnesses?”

Amberly grinned. “What witnesses?”

Before Hiro could react, the big man yanked his aunt’s hair, startling her awake and exposing her neck, which the man quickly pressed a scalpel to.

“No! Don’t…”

“One more word and she’s dead.” Hiro shut his mouth quickly at the threat, exchanging terrified glances with his aunt. “Now listen closely, you’re going to stay very still and let my men handle you. Resist and she’s dead. Make a single noise, and she’s dead. You hear me?”

Hiro nodded slowly, inwardly cursing the position she had him in.

Two more men entered with a gurney with a sheet on it. They moved Hiro onto the gurney and covered him with the sheet.

Hiro felt panicked. He couldn’t see. What if they killed Aunt Cass anyways? He bit his lip, fighting not to let any sounds leak out.

The gurney was moving now. It stopped for a few moments, but Hiro could hear the elevator doors close and the elevator moving them down a couple floors. The gurney was rolled some more. Hiro could tell they were outside when the lighting he could see through the sheet got darker, for it was night.

“We can manhandle him from here,” Amberly said into a walkie-talkie while her men yanked Hiro off the gurney, tied him up and gagged him, and shoved him into the trunk of a car. “Go ahead and kill her.”

“No!” Hiro screamed, but his shouts were muffled by the gag and he was still too weak to really struggle effectively, especially tied up.

They slammed the trunk shut, trapping him in the tight space.

Hiro tried to struggle. He really did, but the trunk sides and floor were covered by a blanket, preventing him from creating any loud noises. Add to that the ropes and his weakness and he was a sitting duck.

Tears came to his eyes as he overheard Amberly and the big man.

“Is it done?”

“Slit her throat and stabbed her in three places, ’cludin’ the heart. Can’t save her from that.”

Aunt Cass was dead. And he could’ve stopped it if he’d only seen they were planning to kill her anyways.

* * *

Tadashi was worried. It had been over twenty-four hours since Aunt Cass had last contacted him. Had something happened? Was Aunt Cass okay? Was  _ Hiro _ okay?

He dialed Aunt Cass’s number again. When he hit the answering machine, he cursed silently. “Aunt Cass, if you don’t call me back in one hour, I’m coming to find you. And I’m calling the police.” He sent a text with the same words to make sure she got the message.

He set down his phone, sound on loud, and started pacing. An hour passed. Then another. After the third hour, he decided enough was enough.

“911? Yes, I’d like to report a missing relative.”


	15. On The Case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Note at end!

Hiro huddled in the corner of his solitary confinement cell. He’d cried himself to sleep three times, each time waking up to cry some more. Now, he had no tears left. He was in a sticky situation himself. He didn’t know if he could afford to mourn properly. He had to focus on getting out.

How had he gotten out the first time? Someone had found them. He remembered that much. But who? And how? Probably the FBI, but still… how?

He wanted to be home. With Baymax and Aunt Cass…

But it would never be so again. He didn’t know if the person Aunt Cass was texting was really Tadashi, but the more likely possibility is that he had no family left. He was alone. Was it even worth it to keep living?

He shook his head, ignoring the dizziness that accompanied the movement. He shouldn’t think like that. There was reason to keep living. He just had to find it.

The door to the confinement cell opened. A tray of food was dropped just inside. Then the door closed again, multiple locks clicking shut and trapping him in.

Hiro stared at the food, unmoving. He knew what it meant. They weren’t planning to let him out of the cell anytime soon, if ever at all. He needed to eat to regain his strength. But did he even want to regain his strength? Did he even want to get out?

Again with those thoughts. He slowly forced his weak limbs to cooperate in crawling over to the food.

As he nibbled on the food (hadn’t he been on a liquids-only diet at the hospital?), he tried to think of a reason to keep fighting. His mind flashed back to the people he’d saved in San Fransokyo. They’d needed him. And he’d used his big brain to deliver.

Who needed him now? His brain automatically answered. The kids trapped here with him. He may be in solitary confinement, but that didn’t mean he was the only prisoner here. Even with Andrew as leader, he’d been depended on. Andrew had needed him to use his powers to shut down the nanobots. But was Andrew really depending on him or just taking advantage of the fact he had technopathic powers?

“Stop thinking so negatively,” he whispered to himself. “And stop talking to yourself too. Don’t let yourself go crazy.”

He finished eating and returned to the corner. Slowly, he drifted off.

* * *

Tadashi felt numb. Just numb. Aunt Cass had been murdered. Hiro was missing again. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He remained on his knees, in the same position he’d been in when he’d heard the news. He didn’t remember hanging up the phone.

Vaguely, he felt the tears running down his face. He lifted a hand to wipe them away.

His text tone sounded. Someone trying to reach him. After a few moments, the ring tone activated. He ignored it.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before there was a hand on his shoulder. Gogo was kneeling next to him, concern painted on her face. The others were there too, close by.

“Tadashi, what happened?” Tadashi didn’t answer.

“Get Baymax.”

“Ow.”

“Diagnosis: Shock.”

The world was moving around him. He wanted to scream. He wanted to hit something…. He wanted to hug Aunt Cass.

Why Aunt Cass? She was innocent. Oblivious sometimes, but so innocent. And she’d just been murdered.

He could hear his friends conversing quietly nearby, but couldn’t make out their words.

He didn’t recognize them moving him. He didn’t recognize the trip to the hospital. He wasn’t paying attention when the doctor asked him questions. All he knew was that Aunt Cass was dead and that he wanted nothing more than to hug her one last time.

* * *

Karmi didn’t know why she did it. She didn’t know why she traveled to Nebraska to find those left over from the military base attack.

Maybe she thought it could lead her to Hiro? For whatever reason she did it, she was there.

She stopped a military man. “I’m looking for someone. Can you help me?”

“Another reporter?” The military man scoffed.

“He’s a teenager. Small, brown eyes, messy black hair. I think he was here.” The military man stopped walking away at the description. “You’ve seen him. I know you have. Where is he?”

“I can’t tell you that.” The military man turned to look at Karmi, just to see her running off. “What the heck?”

Karmi immediately found her way to the General Hospital in O’Neill. There, she stopped a nurse.

“Excuse me. I’m looking for someone. A teenager. Small, brown eyes, messy black hair.” The nurse narrowed her eyes at Karmi.

“He’s not here. No one knows where he went. He’s suspect in the murder of a supposed relative.”

Karmi’s eyes widened. The information. The woman was thinking exactly where Hiro was.  _ She’d kidnapped Hiro _ .

“I see. Well, I’ll bring him here if I find him then. I’m sure the police will want to question him. Thank you for your help.”

Karmi turned and walked away. It took everything in her power not to freeze when she caught the next thought.

Hiro’s aunt was dead? This woman had ordered her murdered?

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to keep walking. She needed help. She needed help badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all,  
> I have decided it is in my best health to take a hiatus on most of my fanfiction. While I have some chapters already written and a couple stories plotted out, the act of writing these (mostly dark) stories is taking a toll on me.  
> I have both OCD and ADD with a smattering if anxiety on the side. My OCD causes intrusive thoughts on very dark subjects and I need to avoid giving into the urge to write and plot out those subjects in order to get a handle on said thoughts.  
> For those who have stuck with me this far, thank you so much! I have really enjoyed your comments! Worry not for I will eventually finish these when I have a handle on my own brain.  
> Thank you for your understanding and hope you are staying safe, healthy, and sane during these trying times.


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